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HomeMy WebLinkAbout11/18/2019 Eingo, arolyn Southold Town Anti-Bias Task Forc Meeting Minutes Nov 18, 2019 Present: erk Emily Geiger, Loretta Hatzel-Gerace, LeRoy Heyliger, Jean LePre, Eldy David Schultz, Valerie Shelby (Co-chair), Cindy Smith, Sonia Spar (Co-chair) Attended also by Bill Ruland, Chief Flatley Excused: Marjory Day, Christopher North 10:10am Meeting Came to Order Legend: *** denotes that an item needs follow-up Announcements: SCHRC Unity Day 1.14.20 Glossary of Special Ed Terms distributed Emails with info from Elaine Gross Susan moved to accept the minutes. Emily Seconded Unanimously approved 1. Martin Luther King Celebration 2020 a. Rev. Butler Community Baptist Church Southampton Keynote Speaker b. Letter to Rev. Butler needed c. $500 honorarium for the Keynote Speaker d. To be held at the North Fork United Methodist Church in Southold on 48 on Jan. 19, 2020 at 4pm e. Letter to Rev. McCloud, Pastor at NFUMC needed f. Unity Gospel Choir will be performing g. Meeting to Plan 4 Mon. Dec. 9th at 10:30 at St. Agnes School in Greenport 2. Review of the Conversation about the letter sent to the Southold Town Board re: Affordable Housing Policy a. Emily & Susan &Val met before the TB meeting to prepare b. Scott Russell was not there c. Val, Emily and Susan did an outstanding job d. Sought to clarify the proposed policy e. The Town Board clarified that the set aside policy was not to affect the affordable housing at the Vineyard f. It was not clear for which housing units the policy will be applied g. CDC is a joint sponsor of the new affordable housing perhaps some clarification can come from them. h. Decision: Letter to Town Board to request a copy of the written policy and guidelines for how affordable housing allotment decisions will be made from the Town Attorney (Emily will draft request.) and 1 i. Decision: Second letter requesting assignment of a SABTF member to serve on the Housing Commission as an appointed member. (Emily will draft request.) 3. Considered: In light of extensive findings of housing discrimination reported in Newsday Special Report, Shall we hold a public forum re housing discrimination in Southold with Elaine Gross advising re what to ask for re: disparate impact ahead of time (Tabled) a. 4. Impact of Diversity Hiring for Teachers, Town, Village, libraries, police, hospital a. Decision: Letters will be sent to head of each area about policies and practices that are being used to ensure robust diversity hires to ensure diverse representation and an inclusion-based working culture with a copy to the Suffolk Times (Susan will draft the letter) (cp will turn the letter into a statement to be posted on the website) L It was noted that many jobs within these realms require Civil Service tests. 1. Kids need to be encouraged to take tests to work for the town, schools, police a. It was noted that schools do this ii. ***BOCES should be invited to the SABTF. iii. What about people out of schools? 5. Scholarship Application a. Scholarship i. See attached revised draft 6. Forum re how to handle bias incidents respectfully is being done by Greenport Library. i. They have asked us to assist in publicizing 7. Forum to educate re our history and our future referencing the incident historical society a. The current plan is for a confidential meeting with all the historical society folks, Steve Wicks and several members of the SABTF b. Received a budget for a facilitator$1500 c. Elaine Gross will also be attending d. Tentatively planned for January e. ***Needs follow-up: re dates, invitations, planned agenda, identification of facilitator 8. Discussed use of terms: whites vs. Caucasian as problematic 9. ***Lack of info on the Website about SABTF activities- Needs follow-up: (Sonia will provide David info to allow for future meeting with the web master of Southold Town) 10. Police report: a. It was reported and Chief Flatley had been notified about a blue van allegedly .associated with the police stopping teenagers in Greenport i. Chief Flatley reported that there is no blue van working for the ST Police but that there other departments operating in town 1. Could be Drug Task Force, Immigration, Federal Marshalls ii. ***Chief Flatley asked for additional info and he will inquire further b. *** We need a "know your rights" for interactions with the police (Tabled) 11. School Reports: none Meeting was adjourned at 12:10 Respectfully submitted, Carolyn Peabody 2